TULSA, Okla., Nov. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The editors of POWERGRID International magazine—the official publication of DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition—and PennWell Corp. have announced eight finalists for the magazine's annual electric utility 2015 Projects of the Year awards.
National Grid, PPL Electric Utilities, Duke Energy Ohio, Pacific Gas & Electric, CenterPoint Energy, Hawaiian Electric Co., San Diego Gas & Electric and BC Hydro earned finalist consideration for projects ranging from weather outage alerts to progressive infrastructure modernizations. Finalists were selected in four categories: Customer Engagement, Renewable Grid Integration, Demand Response/Energy Efficiency and Grid Optimization (formerly Smart Grid).
POWERGRID International Editor in Chief Teresa Hansen will announce the winners live Monday, Feb. 8, 2016, during the DistribuTECH Awards Dinner in Orlando. The awards ceremony kicks off the electric power industry's largest annual transmission and distribution show in North America, DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition, and wraps up its sister show, the Electric Light & Power Executive Conference.
"We are excited to make this announcement. We had more entries for all categories this year, including more than three times as many entries for the smart grid category. While the added entries made our job harder, it's exciting to see that electric utilities are seizing the opportunities that new technologies offer," Hansen said. "The finalists represent the best of the best, but I think it's important to acknowledge that many outstanding projects were submitted and many that did not make this very short list are deserving contenders."
Finalists for the 2015 Customer Engagement Project of the Year are National Grid for its WeatherBug program and PPL Electric Utilities for Universal Outage Alerts.
Finalists for Demand Response/Energy Efficiency Project of the Year are Duke Energy Ohio's HōM Energy Manager and Pacific Gas & Electric's Supply Side pilot.
Finalists for Renewable Grid Integration Project of the Year are Hawaiian Electric Co.'s rollout of In-Line Power Regulators to handle challenges with circuits high in solar photovoltaic and San Diego Gas & Electric's Advanced Distribution Management system.
The Grid Optimization Projects of the Year finalists are BC Hydro's Downtown Vancouver Automated Open Loop and CenterPoint Energy's Advanced Metering and Intelligent Grid Initiative. The Grid Optimization award was formerly known as Smart Grid Project of the Year.
An article about the winning projects will appear in the March edition of POWERGRID International magazine.
For more information on POWERGRID International's Projects of the Year Awards, POWERGRID International magazine, DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition, and the Electric Light & Power Executive Conference, visit www.power-grid.com, www.distributech.com and www.elpconference.com.
About POWERGRID International
POWERGRID International magazine, the official publication of DistribuTECH Conference & Exhibition, celebrates its 20th year as the voice of the electric T&D industry in 2015. More than 40,000 T&D professionals read POWERGRID International magazine for expert coverage of the industry's important news and emerging trends.
About PennWell Corporation
PennWell, the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based parent company of Electric Light & Power (www.elp.com) and POWERGRID International (www.power-grid.com) magazines as well as DistribuTECH Conference and Exhibition, has been known for providing comprehensive coverage of several strategic markets since 1910. Today PennWell Corp. is a highly diversified, business-to-business media and information company with 320 profit centers, including 130 print and online magazines and newsletters, 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and an extensive offering of books, maps, websites, research products, digital media and database services.
Contact: Rachel Campbell
Email: rachelc@pennwell.com
Ph: 918-831-9576
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SOURCE POWERGRID International